MONDAY
Q. The sweet aroma of whose barbecue wafts over the right-field porch during games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards?
Hint: Although he didn’t lead in a single offensive category, he was the American League Most Valuable player the year his team won the World Series.
Hint: He finished in the top three in MVP voting two other times.
Twint: He was the first player to collect 300 career home runs for the Orioles.
A. Boog Powell (BBQ; AL MVP 1970; 2nd in 1969, 3rd in 1966 finishing behind teammates Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson; 300th HR off future teammate Dick Bosman 13‑Sep‑1974)
FCR - Steve Morse, Pittsburgh
TUESDAY
Q. Which Red Sox batting champ has been a hitting coach for National League West team for three out of the last four seasons?
Hint: He also won a Silver Slugger Award that year, but it would be eight more seasons before he made his first All-Star team.
Hint: He is a descendent of Sir Francis Drake.
Twint: He and Mitchell Page made their film acting debuts in the 1994 movie Angels in the Outfield.
A. Carney Lansford (1981 AL BA .336; AS 1988)
FCR - David de la Fuente, San Francisco
WEDNESDAY
Q. What member of the 500 home run club, enraged by being benched for a game, chased his amateur coach all over the field with a bat, resulting in a year’s suspension?
Hint: For his high school play, he was named the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year.
Hint: He was the first ever to receive that award.
Hint: Alex Rodriguez, Zach Greinke and Justin Upton are more recent recipients of the award.
Twint: His bat speed was so violently fast that it was often the object of considerable consternation in bullpens around the majors.
Twint: He acted as his own agent after firing Scott Boras.
A. Gary Sheffield (Gatorade award in 1983)
FCR - David Krassin, New York
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.
Hint: What is the next logical name in this sequence: Menosky, Foxx, Yastrzemski, Rice and __________?
Hint: This same name connects Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester.
Twint: In a single year, he won the Golden Spikes Award, the Rotary Smith Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
A. Jason Varitek (Red Sox captains since 1923; The four pitchers who have thrown no-hitters with him as catcher: Nomo, Lowe, Bucholz, Lester No catcher has caught more; 1994 Golden Spikes Award, Rotary Smith Award, Dick Howser Trophy.)
FCR - Henry Hascup, Lodi, NJ
THURSDAY
Q. Who was Kerry Wood’s twentieth strikeout?
Hint: He has the third-highest season batting average in the history of the Houston Astros.
Hint: He averaged more than thirty stolen bases per season during his eleven-year major league career. NOT SO! THIS IS A TYPO AND I TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY. dbb
Hint: Upon being traded to New York, he signaled his acceptance of the deal by parking his 63‑foot yacht near the city and declaring, "I'm in the big city with celebrities and everything. I want to be around a couple of years. I don't want to taste the Apple and then throw it away."
Twint: On Fan Appreciation Day one year, the team announced that a vehicle would be given to a lucky fan. Teammates then pretended to give away his green jeep.
A. Derek Bell (Wood’s 20-K game 06-May-1998; .334 in 1995; 1992 Toronto Blue Jays, Trade 28-Dec-1994: Bell was traded by the San Diego Padres with Doug Brocail, Ricky Gutierrez, Pedro Martinez, Phil Plantier and Craig Shipley to the Houston Astros for Ken Caminiti, Andujar Cedeno, Steve Finley, Roberto Petagine and Brian Williams and a player to be named later. The Houston Astros sent minor leaguer Sean Fesh on 01-May-1995) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade; Fan Appreciation Day in 1992, Joe Carter and Pat Tabler drove the jeep out onto the field.
FCR - Jim Casey, Savannah
FRIDAY
Q. Who was the winning pitcher in the Carlton Fisk-home-run-dance game?
Hint: Joe Morgan’s 9th-inning single kept him from being the first National League pitcher to no‑hit the same team twice.
Hint: He was traded for two Hall of Famers during his career.
Twint: He was the first pitcher to retire with 500 career appearances and not have a single save.
A. Rick Wise (Fisk 1975 WS G 6 21-Oct-1975; No-hitter: 23-Jun-1971, broken up no-no: 13‑Jun‑1973; Traded for Steve Carlton 25-Feb-1972 & for Dennis Eckersley 30-Mar-1978; 506 G 0 Sv)
FCR - Walt Cherniak, Woodbine, MD
SATURDAY
Q. Which third baseman’s error cost his pitcher a perfect game for which he then atoned by snagging a line drive to preserve the no-hitter?
Hint: He was the third pick in the 1992 expansion draft.
Hint: He currently operates a baseball academy in the Houston suburbs.
Twint: His son is a minor league pitcher in the Rays’ system.
Twint: He caught the final out of a World Series.
A. Charlie Hayes (Terry Mulholland’s no-hitter 15-Aug-1990; 1992 Expansion Draft; Big League Baseball Academy, Tomball, TX; Tyree Hayes; 1996 WS 26-Oct-1996)
FCR - Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, RI
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Who was the last pitcher to represent the Colorado Rockies at the All-Star Game before Ubaldo Jimenez did it?
Hint: The year his team won the World Series, he led the league in losses, home runs surrendered and earned runs given up.
Hint: Wisely, they didn’t put him on the postseason roster.
Twint: He surrendered Josh Thole’s first career hit.
Twint: Thole, a catcher, promptly stole second.
A. Jason Marquis (AS 2009; 2006 Cardinals; Thole H, SB: 03-Sep-2009)
FCR - Jared Lobdell, Elizabethtown, PA
SUNDAY
Q. What pitcher won a gold medal for Team USA in 1981 and a silver medal for Team USA in 2001?
Hint: Don Robinson, pinch-hitting for him, hit the first ever pinch-hit home run by a pitcher in the designated hitter era. [Totally open to ideas on better wording of that one!]
Hint: His inclusion in this week should be a strong clue to the week’s theme.
Twint: He won an NCAA championship playing for the Wildcats.
A. Ed Vosberg (1981 Intercontinental Cup, 2001 Baseball World Cup; 19-Jun-1990; 1980 College WS ring w/U. of Arizona in 1980)
FCR - Bill Carle, Lee's Summit, MO
THEME-REVEALING BONUS
Q. Who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the 1954 World Series?
Hint: He was later the subject of the best-selling book, “Destiny’s Darlings”.
Hint: When he made his major league debut, he was leading the Pacific Coast League in batting.
Twint: He ended his baseball career as a Dragon.
A. Jim Barbieri (1954 WS; Destiny’s Darlings; .357 for the Spokane Indians in the PCL at the time of his MLB debut 05-Jul-1966; Chunichi Dragons 1970)
FCR - Bill Garrod, Edgewood, WA
WEEKLY THEME – Players who participated in the World Series after playing in the Little League World Series. Varitek and Vosberg also played in the NCAA College World Series.
Player LLWS WS
Barbieri 1954 1966
Bell 1980-81 1992
Hayes 1977 1996
Lansford 1969 1988-90
Marquis 1991 2004
Powell 1954 1966, 69-71
Sheffield 1980 1997
Varitek 1984 2004, 07
Vosberg 1973 1997
Wise 1958 1975
First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Gregg Gaylord, Chicago (after the Tuesday question)
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